http://culturecrammer.com/2009/12/03/lawrence-durrell-the-alexandria-quartet-1957-60/ art music film theatre books videogames opera Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:23:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://culturecrammer.com/2009/12/03/lawrence-durrell-the-alexandria-quartet-1957-60/#comment-37 culturecrammer Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:44:08 +0000 http://culturecrammer.com/?p=749#comment-37 Bolokovsky says: I have read the following John Fowles books:- The Magus, The Collector, The French Lieutenant's Woman and the Aristos a collection of pensees, which Fowles compares to Heraclitus, but to my mind is much more like a modern day slightly pretentious, and dotty Pascal. All of these I have read over thirty years ago. It is a funny coincidence as I recently bought 'The Magus', as it is a book that I thought absolutely wonderful all those years ago, and wanted to reread it, to see if it was as iconic as I'd remembered. Both writers could be loosely categorised as belonging to the school of European authors writing in English. In Fowles' case, very much influenced by the French Existentialists of the fifties. Both their interests and subjects overlap and I would bet that Fowles was a Durell fan. The important point to note is the high seriousness of their intent; they saw themselves as writing in a European tradition, where philosophical, psychological and moral investigations were the business of the serious writer, vide Sartre, Camus, Thomas Mann and Proust etc. I cannot comment on Fowles' prose style (due to the lapse in time) and which in the case of Durrell is stunning and floridly poetic. In short, yes, you will enjoy this book, or I'll eat my shorts. Robin Bolokovsky says:
I have read the following John Fowles books:- The Magus, The Collector, The French Lieutenant’s Woman and the Aristos a collection of pensees, which Fowles compares to Heraclitus, but to my mind is much more like a modern day slightly pretentious, and dotty Pascal.
All of these I have read over thirty years ago. It is a funny coincidence as I recently bought ‘The Magus’, as it is a book that I thought absolutely wonderful all those years ago, and wanted to reread it, to see if it was as iconic as I’d remembered.
Both writers could be loosely categorised as belonging to the school of European authors writing in English. In Fowles’ case, very much influenced by the French Existentialists of the fifties. Both their interests and subjects overlap and I would bet that Fowles was a Durell fan. The important point to note is the high seriousness of their intent; they saw themselves as writing in a European tradition, where philosophical, psychological and moral investigations were the business of the serious writer, vide Sartre, Camus, Thomas Mann and Proust etc.
I cannot comment on Fowles’ prose style (due to the lapse in time) and which in the case of Durrell is stunning and floridly poetic.
In short, yes, you will enjoy this book, or I’ll eat my shorts.
Robin

]]> http://culturecrammer.com/2009/12/03/lawrence-durrell-the-alexandria-quartet-1957-60/#comment-34 villabourani Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:54:52 +0000 http://culturecrammer.com/?p=749#comment-34 Hmm, Only heard of this set of novels for the first time today. I am a big fan of John Fowles, will I enjoy this book? Hmm, Only heard of this set of novels for the first time today. I am a big fan of John Fowles, will I enjoy this book?

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